In Moscow, police officers foiled a major robbery by infiltrating a gang, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the head of the press service of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Central District of Moscow, Elena Perfilova. According to her, the police were watching the suspects, who, in turn, were tracking down the cashier of the company located on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street.

The first match of the final series of the NBA playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic ended in a major victory for the Lakers with a score of 100:75. This game took place on the night of June 4-5 in Los Angeles, and its main hero was Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant, who scored 40 points, reports the Associated Press . Bryant made 16 of 34 field goals and made all eight of his free throws.

Video hosting YouTube has secured the rights to premiere Luc Besson's new film "Home" simultaneously with the world premiere, Bloomberg reports. "Home," directed by the director of "Her Name Was Nikita" and "The Fifth Element," is expected to help YouTube attract new advertisers. With the help of the film, YouTube wants to demonstrate that advertisers can reach 350 million monthly visitors through the service. So far, the service makes money on only three percent of videos.

In 2009, the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending (AHML) will allocate 30 billion rubles to implement a program for the completion of economy-class housing. writes As Kommersant , according to the agency's estimates, this will allow the completion of unfinished construction with a total area of ​​1.43 million square meters (23.1 thousand apartments). In pilot mode, AHML will allocate 1.2 billion rubles for this program in the near future.

The international human rights organization Freedom House has ranked Russia among the countries that are “actively undermining democratic principles both within its borders and beyond.” This is stated in the report “Undermining Democracy: Authoritarian Regimes of the 21st Century,” which was released on Thursday. China, Iran, Venezuela and Pakistan are also classified as authoritarian states.

Scientists have received new evidence that volcanoes may have been the cause of mass extinctions in the past. A description of the work is given in a press release from the Australian Curtin University. Episodes of mass death of living organisms have occurred several times in the history of the Earth. The most famous example of extinction is the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Until now, scientists have not come to a consensus regarding the cause of this event.

Austrian police have solved the murder of former security guard of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, Umar Israilov, who was shot dead in Vienna in January 2009, writes the Austrian newspaper Kurier. The names and location of the direct perpetrator of the crime and his accomplice, according to the publication, are known to law enforcement agencies. Three more of the nine suspects in the murder have been arrested and are in an Austrian prison.

On Thursday, near the village of Muzhichi, Sunzhensky district of Ingushetia, four militants were killed during a shootout. reported this on June 5 RIA Novosti , citing a source in law enforcement agencies. Reportedly, a group of criminals numbering up to 12 people was discovered the day before during a joint operation by the FSB forces and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. According to the agency's source, the identities of those killed have not yet been established.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko accused Russia of monopolizing the nuclear fuel market, RIA Novosti reports . “Our partners, traditional on this issue, are today actively taking measures to monopolize the market for uranium isotope enrichment services. This approach to nuclear issues actually repeats the scenario of gas energy blackmail that we had in January. The nature is the same,” Yushchenko said .

The City Council of the capital of Georgia on Friday approved a new master plan for the development of the city. As the Novosti-Georgia agency reported , the last time such a document was adopted was 38 years ago (in 1971). According to the agency, according to the new general plan, Tbilisi will be divided into 20 functional zones: landscape, recreational, residential, transport, special and others.

Russian stock indices ended with growth in the last session of this week. At the end of trading on June 5, the RTS rose by 3.72 percent to 1,149.95 points, and by the end of the week - by almost six percent. The MICEX rose by 2.13 percent during the day to 1,144.27 points, and over the week - by only two percent. The RTS value on June 5 again exceeded the MICEX value.

War and peace of an opera director Boris Pokrovsky died in Moscow On June 5, opera director Boris Pokrovsky died in Moscow, a man whom conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov proposed to include in the Guinness Book of Records “for immeasurable hard work, great talent and fidelity to art.” The funeral of Boris Pokrovsky will take place on June 8 at the Novodevichy cemetery. The whole life of Boris Aleksandrovich Pokrovsky was connected with Moscow.

The price of gold returned to a three-month high after the US currency began to fall again against the euro. The reason for this drop was the decision of the European Central Bank to leave the refinancing rate at the same level of 1 percent. As a result, the euro during trading on June 4 added about 0.2 cents, reaching $1.418. The price of gold, in turn, rose by $17 to $981 per troy ounce.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in an interview with Russian media noted that the strategic support that the republic provides to Russia “has no price.” Against this background, economic assistance from Russia during the crisis, according to him, is insufficient. The interview was published, in particular, by the newspaper Izvestia . Some of the president's statements were also published in the newspaper Sovetskaya Belorussia .

The funeral of opera director Boris Pokrovsky will take place on Monday, June 8 at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. reported this on June 5 RIA Novosti . A farewell to the director and a civil funeral service will be held on Monday at 11:00 at the Moscow Chamber Musical Theater. Pokrovsky founded this theater in the early 1970s and still worked there as artistic director. People's Artist of the USSR Boris Pokrovsky died at 7:30 am on June 5 at the age of 98.